1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a method of analyzing binding efficiency of adhesive selective cell-targeting nanoparticles used to treat cancer using a laser and applications thereof.
2. Discussion of Related Art
A method of treating cancer using a photothermal effect through the medium of nanoparticles has attracted much attention as a medical treatment capable of solving not only side effects of surgical operations, radiation therapy, and medicinal therapy, which are conventional cancer treatments, but also aftereffects of the cancer treatments. In addition, a vast amount of research has been conducted on methods of treating cancer using the photothermal effect through the medium of nanoparticles.
A medical laser system has been employed for photothermal treatments using nanoparticles. Although a near infrared laser (NIL) diode system or computed tomography has been applied to conventional laser treatments, since a conventional NIL diode system cannot be controlled according to a temperature of an affected area during treatment and cannot adjust an irradiated area, it is difficult to apply the conventional NIL diode system to surgical operations on living bodies.
To overcome the above-described problems, a treatment apparatus including a new medical laser system and a method of treating diseases using the apparatus have been disclosed in Korean Patent Application No. 10-2011-0041120. The method uses a controller, which may inject nanoparticles into affected areas, such as cancer cells. The nanoparticles may cause plasmonic resonance due to radiation of laser beams. Thereafter, the controller may sense heat generated by a living body due to plasmonic resonance caused by the radiation of laser beams, and obtain thermal image information. Based on the thermal image information, the controller may control the laser system to radiate laser beams at a low intensity to areas suspected as being affected and radiate laser beams at a high intensity to affected areas.
FIG. 1 is a diagram for explaining a cancer treatment using NIL beams. Referring to FIG. 1, it can be seen that a nanomaterial capable of being selectively adsorbed to a specific tissue, such as a cancer tissue, is prepared and injected into a living body using an injector. The nanomaterial may be a noble metal, such as gold (Au) or silver (Ag), and have various forms, such as gold nanorods (GNRs) or gold nanoshells (GNSs). When irradiated with NIL beams, a temperature of only a portion in which gold nanoparticles (GNPs) are selectively adsorbed to the tissue may increase so that cancer can be selectively removed.
The medical laser system using the above-described method may include a laser irradiator configured to radiate laser beams to a living body, a thermal imager configured to sense heat of the living body to which the laser beams are radiated and obtain thermal image information regarding distribution of heat, and a controller configured to control the laser irradiator to radiate laser beams at a low intensity to an area suspected as being affected, sense a portion in which temperature rises due to a reaction of the nanomaterial with the low-intensity laser beams as an affected area based on the thermal image information, and control the laser irradiator to radiate laser beams at a high intensity to the affected area.
The above-described treatment method may involve a nanomaterial capable of inducing plasmonic resonance. Among the results of various research into preparation of nanomaterials, a photosensitizer has been disclosed in Korean Patent Registration No. 10-1141410, which provides a composite of metal nanoparticles and charges and a composition containing the composite used for a photodynamic treatment or diagnosis. The composite may include metal nanoparticles and a charged photosensitizer. The composite is specifically accumulated in tumor tissues, and cannot easily permeate normal tissues. Thus, the composite may effectively destroy only the tumor tissues through a photodynamic treatment.
To utilize a treatment method using plasmonic resonance of a nanomaterial due to laser beams, a considerable amount of research into the shape and size of metal nanoparticles, the wavelength and intensity of NIL beams, and selectivity factors for cancer cells has progressed. However, although it is becoming obvious that nanomaterials administered to treat diseases are harmless to living bodies, there is still no direct proof of the harmlessness of the nanomaterials. Thus, there is still a chance that injecting the nanomaterials into the living bodies presents a risk. Accordingly, when tissues or tumors to which the nanomaterials are to be adhered have small sizes, injecting an excessively large amount of nanomaterials may be inappropriate. The amount of nanomaterials injected to treat diseases should be as small as possible. To minimize the injected amount of nanomaterials, specific nanomaterials, that is, nanomaterials having a strong binding force with respect to cancer cells, should be selected.
Therefore, to apply a treatment method using nanomaterials and a medical laser system, nanomaterials having a strong binding force with respect to cancer cells should be selected in consideration of binding efficiency of the nanomaterials with cancer tissues or cancer cells, that is, the bound amount of nanomaterials per cancer tissue or cancer cell.